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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be concerned about Boris Johnson's re-shuffle?

261 replies

AlexaShutUp · 13/02/2020 23:47

I'm no fan of either Boris Johnson or Sajid Javid, but I'm not really intending to make any political points in this thread. I'm resigned to having a right wing Tory government, but I am concerned about the shift in power that seems to have occurred, and by Johnson's apparent power grab.

Specifically, I'm concerned about the circumstances of Javid's departure from the Treasury. Javid's position was made untenable and I understand why he walked out, but surely it's much better for the country if the PM has some challenge from number 11, rather than a puppet that merely does their bidding - which I suspect Javid's successor will turn out to be.

A healthy democracy needs to have plenty of checks and balances with regard to those in power, and I'm worried that these are being eroded. Meanwhile, the power of unelected advisers like Dominic Cummings appears to be ever growing.

OP posts:
Cinammoncake · 14/02/2020 23:37

How many Cabinet ministers did you see during the election? Boris was front and centre - his personality, his strategy, his victory.

Is the Tory party now surplus to requirements then, in your view?

CendrillonSings · 14/02/2020 23:39

Nope - hence that shiny new Cabinet he just appointed. I believe there was something about it on the news...

ZombieFan · 14/02/2020 23:49

I seem to remember Jeremy Corbyn lost a vote of no confidence twice (172–40), but he refused to leave. Doesn't that makes him a dictator of the highest order?

Limitedsimba123 · 14/02/2020 23:53

So if this gov are completely normal, why are they despite the massive majority continuing to lie to the public about many things, such as the requirements to satisfy NI protocol? Does this concern you at all?

ZombieFan · 15/02/2020 00:12

the requirements to satisfy NI protocol?

Apart from media soundbites, what actual requirements is the government failing to meet (today) about the NI protocol.?

DioneTheDiabolist · 15/02/2020 01:03

How many Cabinet ministers did you see during the election?
Loads.

Boris was front and centre
No he wasnt. He ducked out of interviews. He sent proxies. His Cabinet and further team spoke lots. He was so absent that analysts believed that his absence was a deliberate political move.

Let me guess - you wanted Corbyn to be PM now, right?
Not particularly. I couldn't vote for either. I just want a PM that I can trust to make things better. This reshuffle has done nothing to improve BJ's trustworthiness.

ZombieFan · 15/02/2020 01:41

How many shadow Cabinet ministers did you see during the election?

DioneTheDiabolist · 15/02/2020 02:05

What does the media exposure of the Shadow Cabinet during the last election campaign have to do with the PM's Cabinet reshuffle this week @ZombieFan?Confused

Pixxie7 · 15/02/2020 02:26

Boris is a dictator he has surrounded himself with yes men, he wants to do away with the judicial reviews, which will essentially put him above the law. He gets rid of anyone who doesn’t agree with him, that not democracy . Remind you of anyone in history.

ZombieFan · 15/02/2020 02:52

What does the media exposure of the Shadow Cabinet during the last election campaign have to do with the PM's Cabinet reshuffle this week

IDK ask the poster who made the comment.

I think anti Boris posters are just upset that Boris is successfully getting on with running the country and they have nowhere to vent their anger. Maybe when Labour sort themselves out it will give them a home?

longwayoff · 15/02/2020 03:28

Good Cop, lovely cuddly Bozza throwing around the sponduliks. Bad Cop wicked conniving Cummings wielding the broadsword and axe. What on earth were you all expecting? Given the lead up to the election, there's plenty more to follow. You are right to be concerned. So should we all be.

Limitedsimba123 · 15/02/2020 05:49

Zombie - that wasn’t what I asked, I asked why do you think the gov is continuing to lie to the public and ultimately business who send goods between GB and NI that there will be no border when there obviously will be? Do you think it’s a good thing that they continue to lie to us? There will at the very least be customs formalities and regulatory controls and they haven’t made a start on what will be required such as infrastructure, it systems, recruiting and training customs officers etc.

Original poster
AlexaShutUp · 15/02/2020 08:08

I think anti Boris posters are just upset that Boris is successfully getting on with running the country and they have nowhere to vent their anger.

If that's what you have taken away from this thread, Zombie, then you have spectacularly missed the point.

OP posts:
Justhow · 15/02/2020 08:16

But he isn’t successfully running the country in any case. We have yet to see if he is capable of it (but going by all that we know of him the answer is no), and these opening gambits (depressing gambits) do not bode well. That’s leaving aside the fact that he is a principle free zone who picked “leave” just to get into power. The good of the country - United Kingdom - that he is now supposed to be governing did not come into it. He could not care less.

ChazP · 15/02/2020 08:23

Johnson has been sacked from 2 positions of responsibility for dishonesty.

He has written openly racist and homophobic comments.

The 350 million for the NHS slogan was repeated as truth throughout the leave campaign and then was admitted to be a lie the day after.

He has taken a £15,000 holiday as a gift and pretends not to know who gave it to him.

He forced the resignation of Javid because he wouldn’t adopt Cummings’ underlings.

He sent ministers to lie to the Queen about the reasons for prorogation and lied to Parliament and the British public about it.

Out of interest to Zombie and the other Johnson devotee on here, what would he have to do to make you realise that he is manifestly the wrong person to run this country?

Alsohuman · 15/02/2020 08:42

Boris was front and centre

Didn’t he hide in a fridge? How on earth do we know he’s successfully running the country? He was only elected five minutes ago.

Quite honestly, if all the Tory fangirls are able to come up with for the next five years is what about the leader of an opposition party that hasn’t been in power for ten years, the quality of debate is going to pretty poor. Are there any thoughtful, grown up Tories on MN? If so, it would be lovely to hear from them.

indianbackground · 15/02/2020 08:58

I am worried and don’t think that it has been quite the same. Thatcher and Blair both had large majorities but still kept senior politicians even when they disagreed

Thatchers government she appointed strong ministers she disagreed with at times Geoffrey Howe, Kenneth Clarke, Tebbit. She may have overrode the but they were challenging and experienced.

Blair had a number of issues where cabinet disagreed- he may have got his own way but there were experienced strong politicians in cabinet - he didn’t sack them all even when he large majorities- Margaret Beckett, Jack Straw, Gordon Brown

HenHarrier · 15/02/2020 09:12

Mr Lewis also said that there would be no border down the Irish Sea after the Brexit transition period.

[From the BBC report on new NI minister’s first trip to NI]

I think we can all see why Julian Smith was sacked.

LemonTT · 15/02/2020 09:13

Let’s be honest the entire political establishment led this country to a dangerous shambles by the autumn of last year. The devices, games and legal manoeuvring of all factions was irresponsible and deaf to public opinion, as expressed through more than one electoral process. You cannot exclusively blame Johnson for it, because he won through in the end.

The stalemate was a bigger threat to country than the issue at hand. It had to be broken. We have already seen a jump in business confidence.

Cummings a straw man. It’s the electorate who hold the whip hand at the elections. They punished labour and they punished indecision. They demanded, strong decision making, investment and spending. They are getting it.

Johnson as the party leader and the government leader wants to commit to more public spending. Javid was blocking that. That’s why he went. FWIW I agree with Javids fiscal approach. But this was a political decision and Johnson did the right thing in changing the chancellor.

WallyDancre · 15/02/2020 09:19

Suella Braverman is unreserved in her criticism of the judiciary- citing the challenges on prorogation and Gina Miller’s A50 challenge as reasons that “the courts have to much power”. She’s already parroting the “take back control” line

This is the scariest bit for me. Having an attorney general who is committed to undermining the independence of the judiciary is phenomenally dangerous. We saw how angry the pre-election government was at being forced to obey the law. The new government will do everything it can to ensure nobody can stop it - or anyone acting in its behalf - from acting illegally.

MarchDaffs · 15/02/2020 09:24

When you become Prime Minister, you’ll be able to make your own decisions about who the best Northern Ireland Secretary is. Until then...

Having resorted to this Year 8 debate club type response indicates that you've no actual way to defend the decision, nothing legitimate to say in favour of it otherwise you'd have done that instead. It's very telling.

And yy re Suella Braverman.

Alsohuman · 15/02/2020 09:30

Johnson as the party leader and the government leader wants to commit to more public spending. Javid was blocking that

That’s not what insiders are saying. Apparently congratulations were offered to Javid and he was confirmed as chancellor, then Johnson casually mentioned that he was losing his advisors.

Cummings really isn’t a straw man, he has more power than any cabinet member, remember him unilaterally sacking one of Javid’s advisors last year? Anyone who isn’t worried about an unelected Svengali pulling the strings in No 10 doesn’t have much regard for democracy.

LemonTT · 15/02/2020 10:06

It is what the insiders and the outsiders are saying. Javid was setting limits on borrowing that meant the spending couldn’t happen or there would be tax increases. He was thwarting the Pms political ambitions, which is to keep the ex red wall on side. Pretty typical Tory election tactics that they have used for generations without democracy falling.

Cummings has no power just influence. He can be sacked just like the treasury advisers. Unlike Javid he won’t have a platform or constituency to fall back on. He is the classic straw man.

And anyway his influence is limited. He hasn’t got “his way” over HS2, cabinet size or Huawei. These are the big issues of the moment.

Saoirse7 · 15/02/2020 10:10

Julian Smith's removal was a massive mistake. We have only regained stability here in NI after 3 years, helped by Smith's interest in this place.

The new minister didn't even get the name of the new deal right. If he turns to like Karen Bradley or Brokenshire we're doomed.

Alsohuman · 15/02/2020 10:11

Javid was setting limits on borrowing that meant the spending couldn’t happen or there would be tax increases. He was thwarting the Pms political ambitions, which is to keep the ex red wall on side

Why did he resign then? Why didn’t Johnson sack him along with all the others he got rid of this week?